You may recall that my two previous experiences with soaps were not happy (Tanglewood's "57 Chevy" and Geo. F. Trumper's "Eucris"). Thus discouraged, I emailed the Midnight and Two company and asked them about their soaps' lathering performance in hard water. The next day I got a reply from the company's founder, Tim, who assured me that their soaps were developed with Calgary's hard water in mind. I then went to a Kent of Inglewood store and asked one of their people about it, and they said it produced a terrific later.

It was with no small amount of trepidation that I handed over my money and got a tin of "The Coast"[1].

The next day I used the soap - more of a croap, actually - and was rewarded with one of my best shaves ever. The scent is woodsy and masculine; to me it's reminiscent of cedar and freshly-turned earth. My wife was in the shower at the time and after a few moments she remarked on how much she really enjoyed the scent.

Lathering was really easy. I loaded a dry-ish brush for about 30 seconds and then in spite of instructions to face lather (I'm not a fan) I lathered in a bowl and was rewarded with a helping of thick, rich, and wonderfully-scented lather. It held together for my full three-passes-plus-cleanup regimen and I still had some left over. I did not detect any sign of the lather deteriorating, but I did need to add a little water for my final pass, which is fair enough.

"The Coast" was amply slick and did not dry out or tighten my skin. Even the Adams Apple area of my neck, which is normally quite sensitive, seemed to be really appreciative of this product.

I was very pleasantly surprised to rank this alongside Tabac, my old standby that formerly held the top spot by itself. I'll give "The Coast" a rating of 5/5 (highly recommended). I'll have no hesitation in buying a tin of another of their line, "Citrus "Island"[2].